Description

One of CIC's primary activities was to hold biweekly meetings called "community dialogues" to discuss broad issues such as racism, police sensitivity, education, and employment discrimination within the city of San Diego. The number of attendees at any given meeting was usually quite high--perhaps as many as 30 or more persons--representing an extremely wide variety of backgrounds, including city officials, educators, administrators, religious leaders, law enforcement, journalists, and minority community spokespersons. The CIC continued its discussion of a police review board, since everyone could agree that police relations in the minority communities were an urgent issue. Stories were shared of African-American men and adolescents being harassed and beaten down in the streets, and some voiced fear that a violent uprising would be imminent if this issue was ignored much longer. The subcommittee appointed to work on the structure of such a review board had not brought to the table any solid solution, but were charged with continuing to work on one. Some members, such as Judge Lindsley, felt that the subcommittee should have free reign to discuss options that would be broader in scope, such as a grievance board that would serve to hear any complaints brought regarding any City office or department. Others wanted a speedy resolution in the form of a proposal for a police review board only. City Attorney Ed Butler suggested such a board might be, in fact, illegal according to San Diego's City Charter. The remainder of the meeting concerned announcements and a few short discussions on recent events, news reports, and priority-setting for upcoming education and housing agenda items. The meetings were moderated by CIC Executive Director Carroll Waymon, and his voice is often the first one heard in the audio recordings of the meetings. The tape constitutes the minutes, but a summary consists of nine pages of handwriting on stenographic notebook paper, based on the tape recorder counter, from 010 to 525, with most entries consisting of names but some entries about motions, resolutions, etc.